And smelting furnace



3 SheetsSheet 1.- W. HEOKERT, W. J. THOMAS & F. L. HEGKERT.

Patented Feb. 24,1891.

ROASTING AND SMELTING FURNACE.

(No Model.)

V: 1 V l W L/vr EJvlolm JA Attorney a.

(No Model.) asheets-sneet 2.

W. HEOKERT, W. J. THOMAS & P. L. HECKERT. ROASTING AND SMBLTING FURNACE.

No. 446,971. Patented Feb. 24, 1891.

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(No Modlel.)

3 SheetsSheet 3. W. HEGKERT, W. J. THOMAS & F. L. HEO KERT.

ROASTING AND SMELTING FURNACE.

N0. 446,971. Patented Feb. 24, 1891.

INVENTORJ,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

\VILLIAM HECKERT, VILLIAM JOHN THOMAS, AND FRANK L. I-IEOKERT,

OF FINDLAY, OHIO.

ROASTING AND SMELTING FURNACE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 446,97 1, dated February 24, 1891. Application filed May 13, 1890. Serial No. 351,623. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, WILLIAM lIEcKEEr, WILLIAM JOHN THOMAS, and FRAN L.

HECKERT, citizens of the United States, re-- siding at Findlay, in the county of Hancock and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Roasting and Smelting Furnaces; and we do hereby'declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

Our invention consists in the combined reducing, roasting, smelting, and refining furnace, hereinafter to be more particularly described and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical crosssection of our improved furnace. Fig. 2 is a side view of the same with a portion of the Walls broken away, Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4is a detail sectional view illustrating the method of attaching the slide for admitting air to the hot-air chamber.

In small plants for iron-Working it is desirable to have a construction of furnace which can without material changes be applied to any one of the uses of roasting and reducing the ore, smelting the ore or pig-iron, and refining the same to make steel, and at the same time have said furnace as economical as pos sible in its consumption of fuel, which economy is best produced by employing the regenerative principle. To obtain a construe-- tion of furnace which shall meet all these re quirements, be of value for general. use, and at the same time be simple in construction and operation, we have designed the apparatus herein described and illustrated, in which- Arepresents the furnace as a whole. (Shown in side view in Fig. 2.)

B are the outer walls, and B certain inner walls, hereinafter to be more fully described.

R is the roof over said furnace, supported in its projecting portion by the frame-work F F, while S is the stack. The inner walls B B are supported upon suitable iron beams X X, (shown in Fig. 1,) andtogether with the side walls I of the furnace form three principal divisions of the interior of said furnace, said divisions being the hot-air chamber between the Walls B B and the two combined roasting and reducing chambers formed by the two sets of walls B B.

the ordinary basin G, of refractory material, on a suitable foundation, and this, together with the arched or crowned roof P, forms a smelting and refining chamber which is below and connects the lower portions of the two combined roasting and reducing cl1au1 bers.

A slide 2' admits air through the wall I to the hot-air chamber, and the slide K permits hot-air from said air-chamber to discharge into one or the other of the conduits leading to the upper portion of the combined roasting and reducing chambers. These conduits are controlled by a suitable arrangement of valves, the preferable arrangement being that shown in Fig. 1 where the reversible valve V is operated by the ropes o, running over the pulleys w w and attached to the wheel YV.

The supply of fuel, consisting of gas or finely-pulverized fuel of any kind, is introduced at either end of the smelting and refining chamber by means of the nozzles 0 o of the system of gas-pipes 0. There are also provided one or more adjustable pipes Z Z', which have nozzles E E, of refractory material, having the hose-connection L L extending from their other ends. These pipes are introduced through openings 6 in the doors K at the ends of the smelting-chamber and protrude into the same. The hose-connection L L may be attached to a pipe Z, which maybe connected with either a gas-supply or an air-supply transmitted through the pipe m or N. Each of these pipes is controlled by a valve '17. n, and in the line of the gas-supply pipe m is inserted a gas-meter M. Suitable valves O O" are provided for controlling the supply of fuel through the pipes and nozzles o 0, and the charge for the smelting chamber may be introduced through the doors K K in the side walls. Doors H H are also provided at the upper ends of the reducing and roasting chambers,through which the charge for said chambers may be introduced.

At the bottom of the furnace is arranged In said chambers are arranged any number of inclined shelves C C C C',upon which the charge of ore rests. Opposite said shelves are arranged small doors D D, which may be opened to work down the charge from one shelf to another by means of stirrers or rakes of the usual construction.

\Vhen it is desired to use the furnace for heating purposes, or when only one of the roasting or reducing chambers is charged with ore, checker-work may be built on the shelves of one orboth the roasting and reducing-chambers, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1, to produce to the highest degree the regenerative action before referred to.

In the brick-work of the arched roof P are introduced one or more thin layers of wood T T or other combustible material, the object of this being that when the furnace is first heated up and the brick-work expands through said heat the expansion will be taken up by the yielding and burning combustible material interposed in this manner, so that the bricks will not be crushed or the walls of the furnace forced out.

The operation of our invention is the following: A charge of ore is introduced through one of the doors II into one of the vertical roasting and reducing chambers, and the valve V is so arranged that the upper portion of said chamber will be connected with the stack S, while the upper portion of the other chamber is connected with the hot-air chamber and air-inlet. In this other roasting and reducing chamber is supposed to be a charge of ore already heated and partly or wholly roasted. Fuel-gas is then admitted through the nozzles o beneath that one of the roasting and reducing chambers in which the heated ore is contained, and the basin G, being filled with a charge of already-reduced ore or of ore and pig metal, combustion is begun by the introduction of f uel-gas through the nozzles above mentioned. The air drawn in through the opening 1' through the hot-air chamber and down through the hot roastingehamber and its mass of heated ore will be greatly heated and the combustion in the smelting-chamber will be intense. The hot gases escaping up the other roasting and reducing chamber to the stack will heat it and its charge of ore, partially roasting the same, and leaving its heat to be given up again when the furnace is again reversed, according to the well-known regenerative action.

Vhen it is desired to use the furnace for refining purposes, the air-supply '0' may be shut off, the valve V arranged in a vertical midway position, and f uel-gas and the small necessary supply of air introduced into the smelting-chamber G by means of the nozzles 0 and the doors K. As the ore is worked down the shelves 0 C, it becomes more and more thoroughly reduced, and may be dropped off the last one into the basin or smelting-chamber G, ready for smelting and subsequent refining.

In the refining portion of the process the pipes 7/ Z are connected with the air-supply through the pipe N by opening the valve n audshutting the valve 11. Then by moving the said pipe E about so that the refractory nozzle E is in turn introduced into every portion of the bath the air discharged therein burns out the impurities in the metal, thereby turning the same into mild steel. To suiiiciently carbonize this again to produce the higher qualities of steel, the valve a is shut and the valve it opened, when a certain predetermined amount of gas is passed through the pipe m and meter M and discharged into the bath of metal, giving up its carbon thereto in sniiicient quantity to raise the percentage of carbon in the resulting steel to any de sired figure.

Our furnace may of course be used for puddling or for any use to which furnaces of this general character are put.

Having therefore described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to protect by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination of the two roasting and regenerating chambers, the smelting-chamher which is below said roasting-chambers and which connects the lower portions of the latter, the hot-air chamber arranged between the roasting-chambers and provided with the air-inlet and the discharge or inlet to the conduits connecting the same with the roasting-chambers, the stack and conduits which connect the upper portions of the roastingchambers with the inlet from the hot-air chamber and the stack, together with suitable valve mechanism controlling the said conduits, and the fuel-inlets at either end of the smeltirig-chamber, substantially as described.

2. The combination of the two vertical roasting and regenerating chambers which have shelves arranged therein, the smeltingchamber which is below said roasting-chambers and which connects the lower portions of the same, the air-inlet, the stack, and the two conduits, each of which connects the upper portion of one of the roasting-chambers with either the air-inlet. or the stack, the reversible valve by which said alternate connections are made, and the fuel-inlets at each end of the smelting-chamber, substantially as described.

3. Thecombination of the two vertical roasting and regenerating chambers which have shelves arranged therein, doors affording openings to said roasting-chambers before each of said shelves, the smelting-chamber which is below said roasting-chambers and connects the lower portions of the same, the air-inlet, the stack, and the two conduits, each of which connects the upper portion of one of the roasting-chambers with either the air-inlet or the stack, the reversible valve by which said alternate connections are made, and the fuel-inlets at either end of the smelting-chamber, substantially as described.

t. The combination of the two vertical roasting and regenerating chambers which have shelves arranged therein, the hot-air chamber between said roasting-chambers, the smelting-chamber which is below said roasting-chambers and connects the lower portions of the same, the air-inlet from the hotblast oven, the stack, and the conduits, each of which connects the upper portion of one of the roasting-chambers with either the airinlet or the stack, the reversible valve by which said alternate connections are made, and the fuel-inlets at either end of the smelting-chamber, substantially as described.

5. The combination of the smelting and refining chamber, the pipes which lead into said chamber, provided at their outer ends with hose-connections, air and gas supply pipes connected with said hose, valves which control said pipes, and a meter connected with the gas supply pipe, substantially as de- 20 scribed.

6. The combination of the smelting and refining chamber, the pipes which lead into said chamber, provided at their outer ends with hose-connections, air and gas supply pipes connected with said hose, valves which control said pipes, and a meter connected with the gas-supply, together with the fuelsupply pipes which discharge into said chamber, substantially as described.

7. In combination with the arched roof of a furnace-chamber, thin layers of combustible material built into said roof and arranged normal to the curve of the arch, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

WM. HECKERT. \VILLIAM JOHN THOMAS. FRANK L. HECKERT. \Vitnesses:

T. H. MOOONICA, DAVID EDWARDS. 

